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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1968)
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Editorials Commentary Wednesday, March 6, 1968 Page 2 Choice '68 question , Last week it was released that the University would participate in a nationwide presidential pri mary. Choice '68, to be conducted on every ma jor university and college campus in the country. The project was readily undertaken by the ASUN Special Projects Committee and work on the campaign was started. Now it appears that for several ridiculous rea sons the Senate executives are having second thoughts about the project. At the last Senate meeting the ASUN presi dent stated two stipulations which he felt should be met before Choice "68 was organized here. The stipulations were that the date of the pri mary be moved to April 10 to correspond with the ASUN elections and that there should be a proper dissemination of information about the candidates. Both of these stipulations have been fulfilled and still the executives are hedging about the cam paign. Contrary to the executives' belief that Choice '68 would be insignificant, 2,500.000 students' opin ions are not going to be ignored. Also an election conducted on a nationwide level may stimulate more University students to participate in what might be a rather drab ASUN election. Almost every major college in Nebraska ex cept the University already have agreed to sponsor Choice '68. Since the University has the largest population its results would be the most indicative of Nebraska students' viewpoints. If the University ioes not participate the Ne braska vote will be negligible. State voters also would have a chuckle over the discrepancy between the University students who are avidly campaigning for a 19 voting age and the students who do not exercise a voting privilege when they have the opportunity. The University will have made a very bad mis take if Choice -68 is not conducted here. The appropriateness of the Senate executives deciding this issue rather than the entire Senate should be questioned. Such matters should be approved by the entire Senate not left to the degression of the executives. Senators should question the executives actions at the Wednesday meeting or propose a motion to begin plans for Choice "68 immediately before the University is left behind in its unstirred Nebraska dust Cheryl Tritt Sentimental journey Since this thing began appearing several weeks ago, people keep asking me when I'm going to do something controversial. Always aiming to please, I decided that this week I would attack something or someone. But who or what? George Wallace? The George Wal lace Mentality? (if such a thing exists). The Uni versity Administration? Crime in the Streets (or in the dorms behind closed doors)? I am a Walrus a. tWrnual The possibSitiet. while fruitful, were also end : less, and besides, everybody's against those things. What was needed was a fresh attack, sure to Z aronse mnch ire (and we all know how dangerous an aroased Ire Is), so I decided to tear into the complex of attitudes which I choose to label The - New Sentime Ntality (this Is already beginning to sorad tike a deep, serious, probing look at one " facet of contemporary life. The most conspicuous example of this tendency is Rod McKuen. Poor old Rod that sensitive . soul who pocrs his heart out on records that sell "J, millions of copies to swooning fans who aren't afraid to admit that they're emotional. Lots of . gooey violins and a little daring, but sincere (oh ' so sincere) feeling and watch out Edgar Guest ' (or Kahil Gibran). Since I am defining this movement by invec- live, let's move on to movies. Having outgrown I The Sound of Musk, the majority of New Sentimen- taliFt grab on to Doctor Zhivago and the really hip go for A Maa and A Wemaa. Other favorites 1 are any Sidney Porter films (particularly To Sir With Lore and an oldie but real goodie, A Patch I Of Blue). j- The foreign film branch of the New Sentimen ttalists reallv empatiisaes with Tie Cranes Are - Flying "Look Vladimir, the cranes are flying again. (I cried and cried.) Give me Snow Whit and the Seven Dwarfs anytime at least it's clean. Is anyone out there enraged yet? Let's move 0i to a few more salient features of the More. meat New Sentimentalists are all for dialogue it is the solnizea to most of the problems of cn munieatioa engeaered by our complex IndBStrial so- ciety. And remember, religion should be Relevant ; And all you need is love. And killing is bad. And life is good. And excuse me, I have to turn ; over my Lawrence Weld record and, and -, Daily Nebraskan xt c mm fmnlM aaaUirl aaaf at Umta. J. TKl.EPSCj.NRfc fcaitar 471-2SH. Km V2-2S9. fatontttM nasa arc M Mr aoneatcr ar a tor 1 imm MeMar, (MMwemtr, isarausv ana fwi? s vm vrwn , met arnc nenawn an on pirate, br br awtoU at Ba) anus tt Ifanraaka anflar DM atrr aVnaa mt oat Far ft nnwti- nu fitaantf FubIiruuim abatl ka fr Iran tammm- at ft tabu iiunat ar aar eeraai cuwaoe U VmmnOt. Hrav , am at oaa ffaaaaat aaa iiiimnl tmt waat (an enac to aa KeaotMr WilnH Coltarjatf Tom. Jfcaftaaal EKaaal AaVar- 1 C Eftlar Cheryl TrtSti Maucu Bdrtar Jack TmM; Jr fcdnar tA . I im, cwt Rwr t, L. Scaatxtts lA vx-iM f Analm! law Waaaan AanataX fcifM Keaa Eertar Silow Gcsxrri r!a (rfa Gtarat KwBnma. 4a&aat fiaarta Editor wanif ttanai; t ! Ltm fTnam tua Jtmum itm Bracer. Kara 5araa. Mark Camas iM p-arka. Mm kUfMwwgfc. Janet riU. Kixat Couau " hm Jim Fanerwea, fcUMttea fHatgrtty. Pto'los Ml&mf. fca Ct0t.mm. Imal Skamr. ktaxr Jn Dnrak. fiLtvta uiMum: hrm Citor . HeifUr hrm Ovatsslk: mw tJtaim: iimr rccigaarr. . Jum Ikera. McKir thtrrtU, Canaaa tkmrmtrxrls PbwuasvBrrt Miac auunaai Um I iiar'i . BU'iiJJ t-iaj VTiMV fcuBiwai Kaasnr Cta frwuN; rYatettuai Mjauer Ciuisa OnMr: Ikulxnai iM KautHT Lana Knakrr; iMKKHiwiKr tM -ttninal d asb&fr Gary &W!HU!tni'jra; fluuna fcticl&rtr Jffi 1Vt:1- t. ilrala. ftaal uuslcl. IteMat KuulU. Sail on o ship OF STATE Wallace for President? What a riot! By George Kaufman George Wallace visited Omaha Sunday and Monday to accomplish two purposes and left with the satisfaction of having evidently attained both of them. His first purpose was to get his name off the Democratic list in the Nebraska primary. He apparently achieved that when a reported 2,100 people signed the roster of the Amer ican Party at his "conven tion" Monday night at Civic Auditorium. His second purpose was to feed the backlash vote he is sowing from the frustrated and discontented "common people" of the nation. The bloodied and still boiling trail be left attests to the fact that he accomplished that goal also. One of Wallace's appear ances Monday was a talk with a political science course at Omaha University, taught by state senator Richard Mar vel of Hastings. Although it was supposedly closed to the press, another newsman and I got in. Be fore Wallace arrived it was obvious the word bad gotten around as about 50 protesters with sigis stood in g r o u p s around the building. At 1:45 we knew Wallace had arrived when the shouts erupted from the crowd be low, which had now grown quite large. It was easy to follow his progress into the building and up the stairs as the shouts and hecklers f o 1 lowed him. Suddenly he burst into the room, followed by a group of Alabama State Patrol body guards, several Omaha po licemen and a few of bis ad visors. The doors were no sooner shut than the corridor outside was filled with people and a chant of "Black Pow er! Black Power!" filled the room. "These are the free speech people," he leered, pointing at the hallway. "They're always for freedom of speech as long is it's for them and not you." This brought another round of applause from the c 1 a s s. Members wildly applauded the governor several times during the talk, and I am still hoping il was more a reaction to offset the group outside than a sincere agreement with what be said. The two things he said which brought the loudest ap plause were: "If some European country that wasn't supporting us against the Communists in Viet Nam asked me for 100 million in aid. I'd write five billion on the black board (be turned and did so) and I would subtract the 100 million and say "There, that's all you owe us now from the world wars. " And, refering to an incident which occur ed to the Presi dent in California last month, "If some Communist or an archist laid down in front of my car to stop it, it would be the last car he everlaid down in front of." As bis car made its way out of the OU parking lot, it was chased by shouting pro testers who kicked at the bumper and the tires and, at last threw their signs at it when it got out of kicking range. When we arrived at Civic Auditorium in the evening the number of signcarrying pro testers had grown to at least 300 as they marched in a cir cle to the door of the auditori um and out to the street chanting such things as "11 you want freedom, send Wal lace home (clap, clap)." The group included quite a few nuns and priests, who happily joined in the chant "In your guts you know he's nuts." The signs themselves showed a wide range of ingenuity, in cluding "what color is God, governor?", "Keep the White Tornado out of Washington," "Wallace for President of South Africa," "Omaha Can Co ... without Wallace," and a play on Wallace's favorite derogatory term outside of perhaps "Communist," "Pseudointellectuals of the World, Unite." One man stood on the side lines silently hawking "Wal lace Go Home" signs printed in bright red. About 7:25 the demonstra tors headed into the auditori um, still chanting and waving their flags wildly. Several "delegates" (anyone going in to sign the petition was a dele gate) dressed in suit and tie walked in past the protesters waving Confederate flags and shouting back. Inside, the whole thing as sumed the atmostphere of a pre-game festivity at an im portant basketball game. A small Souza-type rented marching band in faded uni forms kept the rally music coming, while the protesters, who had been steered into the balconies because they were not "delegates", cheered whenever one of theirs would walk out onto the convention floor carrying one of the signs among the Wallace supporters. At eight people were asked to go to tables at the sides of the auditorium to sign up for Wallace while booes rained from the balcony. A family of Indians, complete with headress, came onto the stage and shook hands with Wallace men, as the pro testers started a chant of "Go Big Red." Several of the newsmen re marked that they looked like the same Indians which had greeted Romney earlier in the year. The Indians then went through the motions of sign ing the petition on the plat form while the speaker called the crowd's attention to t h e "good conduct of these true Americans." The speaker tried to c a 1 1 the "convention" to order as a small group of Negroes worked their way up to s i t down in front of the platform. They were urged to leave "for fire regulations", but would not budge. Police moved between the platform and the Negroes as the group shouted "Stop This Man!" and"SeigHeil!" At this point the speaker huddled with Wallace aides on the platform and one asked if they should bring on the gov ernor yet "No," replied an other with a heavy drawl, "Let's give 'em a little Ne braska music first" The marching band struck up "There is no place like Ne braska." As the group almost drowned them out with shouts of "Fat Pig!" and "Send Wal lace to Vietnam, and Lurleen w ith him," three Wallace peo ple came up and read resolu tions to the delegates. The resolutions couldn't really be beard above the shouts, and the nays from the balcony outnumbered the ayes from the floor, but each was de clared passed. When Wallace was finally announced and was swept on stage with a flurry, the crowd pressed the police up to the platform, shouting "bigot" and booing. Aides and patrolmen sur rounded him at the micro phones, trying to protect Wal lace from flying coins and sticks. Several of the young Negroes got their kicks from pulling on the many cords leading to the microphones on the platform and watching some of them tumble to the floor. Standing underneath the platform where Wallace was trying to shout over the cat calls and jeers. I suddenly heard a ruckus break out be hind me. As I turned around the po lice were swinging their clubs and pushing the protes ters back into the crowd. A metal folding chair flew past my head and crashed near the platform. As the police swept the mob back through the auditorium and out the front one young Negro stag gered past me holding a blood soaked handkerchief to his head, and went for a side door. An elderly Wallace couple, routed from their seats by the struggles, cringed near the platform and urged the police on with shouts of "Kick the nigger for me" and "Kill the son of a bitch.' It was soon over, with only a clearing in the crowd lit tered with broken signs, a fallen TV camera and chairs was left of the explosion. Outside, at least 17 police cars were doubleparked in front of the auditorium, and police rode herd on listless groups of Negroes and scat tered whites, earning s h o t guns. Wallace talked almost an hour to his cheering follow ers, then immediately left from the side door to fly back to Alabama. But be will not so soon be forgotten in Oma ha. The Omaha police found that out the morning after his speech, as one man was killed and several others beat en on the North Side. His seeds were sown, ard as ke promised "bis people," he will be back this summer during the campaign. Waiiam F. Buckley, Jr. Buckley's English Almanac The talk everywhere is of the plight of the Kenya Indi ans who bad been promised (everybody says) permanent rights to immigrate to Eng land back when Kenya was turned over to old burning spear Kenyatta, who now of ficially discloses his intention to make the Indians second class citizens. Mr. Duncan Sandys, who was at that time Minister In Charge of the liquidation of the British Empire, insists that he gave no such promise, but appears to rest his case on the formalistic argument that after all he had no pow er to "tie the bands of Parli ment" Already the Government'! measure to restrict the flow of immigration has passed the Parlimament by a vote of about 80, strongly backed by the public which fears an increase in racial antagonism and unemployment Opponents of the Socialists' Bill, who include Labour backbenchers and a few Con servatives, are stressing the otmoxiousness of a Bill which could be compared to our Ori ental Exclusion Acts, and, for the first time in English his tory, describes the color of a man's skin as relevant to his admissibility. Tbey ttnss, also, that the Indians in question are lot the most part highly skilled in various crafts and would be just the kind of people Eng land would be encouraging to immigrate if their skin were white. The most interesting argu ment being adduced is simply to the effect that whether England likes it or not, what Sandys now says or doesn't say, in fact the pledge was given, and the Indians' pos session of British passports is evidence enough in the mat ter. Indeed The Daily Tele graph, which usually weight in on the pragmatic side of such questions as these, pub lished the facsimile of task A passport with the modified wording, "Dieu at mon droit et votre slightly attenuated droit aussL" On the book scene, the vol umes on the British spy, Har old Philby, have received much attention and, at the hands of the Earl of Birken head, one sees a revival of that high pitch of British in dignation which once awed the world. Philby was pro tected by co-spies, Buegesi and Maclean, and the Earl reads with such stupefaction as Senator McCarthy the bad Senator McCarthy a s e d to read, the record of the par toaage by high officials of su bordinate security risks. Larry Grossman He died for France The morning train from Paris was pulling out of the station in a nameless French village south of the capitol. The group of American students I was traveling with stood on the platform watch ing the last car disappear down the tracks. We had mistakenly caught the wrong train. Our next scheduled stop was Blois in the Loire Valley coun try. The train we had taken did not stop there. The ten of us walked Into the little station house and buried a corner of the building with our combined luggage. Everyone got busy writing ; postcards to their aunts in Oregon and Ohio. It; was four hours until the afternoon express would -arrive from Paris. The day was warm and perfect for walking. I left my friends behind and set ont to explore the little town. The sun had bleached the world here a uniform white. The houses were white stucco and the streets were white gravel. A few flowers In window boxes provided the only visible . color. It was midday and families were having their meals. Through the open doors covered only by long streamers of blue and red plastic, I could see groups of people sitting at tables with wine bottles, glasses, and long loaves of bread. Their lilting speech was the only sound in the white silence. Travel Notes Ten minutes of walking took me past the last cottage to the edge of town. Fields began here and moved uninterrupted off to the sky. A white wall with an iron gate caught my eye. I walked over and found the municipal cemetery. I entered and saw several rows of graves laid ont in neat order. Small paths raa between the plots and each grave was outlined with white stones. The tombstones of adjoining rows touched back to back. I walked along the graves and no ticed some plots covered with tail weeds and dead flowers. In France one must pay the caretaker of the cemetery aa annual fee to maintain a grave. Non payment means the plot Is left along and grasses and tall weeds sooa provide a cover. I was surprised to see untended graves next to well cared for ones. The names on the stones were all accompanied bv the birth and death dates and sometimes by a" picture of the deceased. Two things caught my eye. A great number of the stones had pictures on them of young men posing stiffly in military uniforms. Death dates repeated themselves 1917 . . . 1919 . . . 194L . . 1943. . . 1945. The words Mort Pour La France .... Died for France always followed. I left the cemetery and thought about what I had seen. The distance separating me from the two wars that racked Europe in this century is great both in time and space. I was torn after the fighting stopped and knew of the battles only from history lessons. But I had just seen the graves la a small town of voung mei f alien in battle. The towa was small but many graves lamented Mort Pour La France. How often, hi how many small towns across the face of France eoald one find this written? I went back to the train depot through the quiet town. History and something of the tragedy of humanity came along for the walk. Campus Opinion Dear Editor: It seems to me that Bernard Durands two ar ticles recently printed in the Daily Nebraskan have exposed his naivete better than anyone else might have hoped to do. Several weeks ago, I had the unfortunate oc casion to hear him speak for an hour or so at Hyde Park, on the role of the United States in the Vietnamese War. Through the use of half-truths, items out of context, and overt exagerations, be managed to label the citizenry of the U.S. as gullible fools for believing anything contrary to what he knows. While condemning the United Etates for mass ' murder and gross cruelty, he either didn't recog- -nize similar undertakings by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese, or rationilized them away with -the magic word "civil war" Even a grade schooler in our contested (by him) educational system would recognize the hypocrisy of bis oposition. In his second article he contended that "ignor. ance is being cultivated at every level of the Ameri can educational system" with no more proof of , this offered than that he "has come across minor distortions". I might just as well conclude from my recent observations of a minor Frenchman, that all Frenchmen suffer from a persecution com plex. Again, since when is be the all-knowledgable, infallible determiner of what truth Is and what lies are, to contrive arguments calling for a revolt (hopefully)? If he is actually the person of prin ciple he pretends to be, I might think he would be obliged to rescind his denunciations in a gentle man's fashion and offer an appropriate apoiogy. Joseph Kirchner Dear Editor: Open house? Co-ed visitation? In Loco Parentis? Subcommittees and on and on and on . . . Curiosity led me to write my freshman cousin attending the University of the predominently small-town sate of Oregon, at Eugene. After relating to her our above mentioned controversy, she wrote the fol lowing concerning the U. of O. policies, etc: "U. of O. has dorm open hours regulations, too. The boys always have maximum hours (all that the Student Conduct Committee will allow) and the girls' dorms usually vote for less. Ours are Fri. 8:30 p.m.-l:00 a.m. and Sun day 1-7 p.m. You can have your doors shut." Incidentally, at the University of Oregon, as she mentioned in one of ber earlier letters, any student can live virtually anywhere he or she desires after his or her freshman year. If the U. of O. were a "Berkeley" I wouldn't have been surprised. Rela tively speaking, the problem of a satisfying "open house" policy approaches the ridiculous. Greg Vogt
